We all have them (bones, that is) and for the most part, we happily ignore them unless we break one! This isn't likely to happen to many of us in youth when our bones are strong. The trouble is, as we get older, bones start to lose density (particularly for women during menopause when oestrogen levels drop) and its often something we don't notice until we trip, have a minor fall and wonder why a break or fracture results from such a minor incident.

If you were to need a hip replacement as a result of an osteoporotic (lit: porous bone) fracture, there's a 30% chance you'd not be able to live independently afterwards and, by the time we reach our mid-70s (let's hope we get there!), we are in fact much more likely to die from the effects of a fall than from heart attack, stroke, traffic accident, fire and cancer put together - and all because our bones have become so weak that they don't support us very well any more.

Now, this may all sound very doom-and-gloom, but there's lots of easy ways we can support our bones that will help us to maintain our ability to stay active and healthy well into old age. Which is where the coke comes in...

EASY ACTION 1: Cutting out (or down at least) this fizzy drink from your diet will vastly improve your chances of maintaining healthy bones. Why? Because strong bones require the regular intake and absorption of calcium and coke leaches calcium from the bones faster than your child's new school uniform can deplete the family finances, faster than facebook can bleed all your spare time away and certainly faster than you can recite the alphabet backwards. Something I'm not sure I ever could do, but I digress...

EASY ACTION 2: Get out into the sun for 10-15 minutes a day! Now that's surely something (this English summer notwithstanding) that you can actually enjoy. And by getting out into the sun, I mean exposing more flesh than the average tortoise. As in, leave off the sunglasses and bare your arms - without sunscreen - to let the skin and eyes absorb the UV rays, converting them to vitamin D, which helps the body to absorb calcium to maintain strong bones. Keep it short and you won't burn!

PS Did you know that if you have fair skin, you're more easily able to make vitamin D than darker skinned people? At last, an advantage to being milk-bottle white!

EASY ACTION 3: C- and D-list celebrity foods! The body absorbs the vitamins it needs much more easily from food than from supplements, so if you can add some calcium-rich and vitamin D-rich foods to your diet on a regular basis, you're halfway there to good bone health already. So, in essence, that means more dairy foods (and for the calorie-conscious, skimmed milk has more calcium than whole milk ;-)), oily fish like fresh salmon and mackerel or canned salmon and sardines (gotta eat the bones though!), rhubarb, almonds, sweet potatoes and dark green leafy vegetables are just a few of nature's C- and D-listers.

EASY ACTION 4: Atten-shun! Resistant to exercise? Yes, we all know that putting weight through the bones helps makes them stronger but we don't all feel motivated to jog, run or lift weights every day. However, simply standing properly allows gravity to help keep your bones dense as, utilising your own body weight is the best resistance training going! First, kick off the high heels (aaaahh, now that feels better already, doesn't it?) to stand and walk barefoot (on the carpet at home at least) at every opportunity. And that goes for lower heels, too. Any heel in fact.

Note that standing properly doesn't mean standing like a battle sergeant - you know, chest out, shoulders back, stomach sucked in. It's about finding a "neutral" and natural position. Next time you go shopping, try standing side on to a mirror in a shop changing room (the ones that allow you to see yourself from different angles) and firstly, notice whether your chin is jutting forward, or whether you're leaning forwards or backwards - and rectify it. Then, think "lift rib cage" rather than "chest out" and try letting shoulders drop down rather than back. Much better :-) There are more pointers, but these will do for a start....

The easiest action of all, of course, to help improve your posture or bone-health using exercises tailored to your specific needs is to use a professional who can see what you're doing and advise on best positioning. If you'd like some help with maintaining YOUR bone health, give me a call and I'll start you off in the right direction :-)